Is Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James still a top-7 NBA player?
During a recent podcast episode, former Denver Nuggets guard Austin Rivers was asked for his top-7 players in the NBA right now. Unsurprisingly placing Nikola Jokic first, Rivers rounded out his list with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, and LeBron James.
Rivers acknowledged that his addition of LeBron could be controversial, and said, “The LeBron one could be questionable for a lot of people, just because of his age right now, but he’s just so dominant in the game. He went to the Conference Finals last year just because he decided to will that team there. [The Lakers] had no business going there.”
Austin Rivers names his top 7 players in the NBA today:
1. Nikola Jokic
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo
3. Stephen Curry
4. Luka Doncic
5. Joel Embiid
6. Jayson Tatum
7. LeBron JamesThoughts? 🤔
(via @ringernba)pic.twitter.com/DgT4txYX9m
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 15, 2023
What has been even more controversial than Rivers adding LeBron James in his top-7, was his omission of Kevin Durant. While Durant has dealt with injuries over the last several seasons that have limited his overall production, he has still been one of the best players in the league when healthy.
At the end of the day, these lists are somewhat subjective, and ultimately depend on what one values most. There is so much talent in the NBA, and the gap between many of these stars often comes down to preference. For Rivers, he has competed against all of these players, and made his ranking based upon who he feels the NBA’s best seven players are.
